On our First Sunday Back

Yesterday was our first Sunday back in Portugal. After we spend a few days with Aura’s parents (mostly recovering from the trip, we are thankful for them), we made the 6 hour trip to Southern Portugal. We have been asked to help the church we had just left. The new pastor, Bro. Lenildo, will be in Brazil until August 3rd, helping his family as his brother Max is in the hospital. He had a very serious accident while crossing a street. We got some encouraging news about his condition, but it is still very serious. We count on your prayers for him.

Including Sunday School, I taught 4 times yesterday. I was nervous with anticipation (I must admit), but it felt right to preach and teach in my own language. Services went well and we had one first time visitor. His name is Emanuel, he is a college student from the North. He is spending the Summer with his grandmother, who is a member of the church in Albufeira. Pray he comes back.

Even though Sunday night was the least attended service, it was the one that generated the best “post service” discussions. I preached on “The Word of God is Trustworthy”. Two other couples stayed after the service and we went over their questions and comments.

We are full force in the Summer season here in Southern Portugal. Albufeira has 40 thousand people, but during the summer the number of people that come is well over 500 thousand. All the local people, including the church members, work very hard in the Summer (some working 2 and 3 jobs) as jobs become very scarce during the winter months.

Here are a few things you can think of as you pray for us,

• Church involvement: Even though we have committed to help this church while their pastor is away, there will be some services that we will not be able to cover, due to other projects. Pray that the church people will be able to prioritize and organize to step up in Christian service during this time.
• Contacts: We have been able to visit with some people that we know from before. They have not been in church and need to be saved. Please pray that these meetings go well and that we can even meet new people and be good witnesses to them.
• Evangelism: Wednesday and Thursday we will have a group from Pennsylvania come. We have a special tract distribution scheduled for Thursday. Please pray for new contacts, and even salvation decisions, to come as a result of this work.